County staff presented the annual question of whether to grant a local exemption for business personal property and recommended keeping the existing $20,000 exemption that the board has maintained since roughly 2012. The exemption reduces the taxable value of qualifying business personal property accounts (for example, equipment and fixtures) by the stated amount.

Ben (presenter) described the statutory backdrop: Colorado law includes a $56,000 threshold statute that exempts accounts valued at $56,000 or less from tax in full; historically the board has chosen to grant an additional local exemption of $20,000 for each account. Staff noted the previous estimate that a $20,000 exemption correlated with roughly $500,000–$700,000 in foregone county revenue in prior years, but said they did not have final numbers for the current year because assessor values and mill-levey calculations are still being finalized. Commissioners asked for precise figures: the number and percentage of accounts already eligible for the state $56,000 exemption, the number that would benefit from an additional $20,000 exemption, and an estimate of the current-year revenue impact given the recently reduced commercial assessment rate.

Commissioners directed staff to return with detailed analysis from the assessor and finance office, including (1) how many accounts are already exempt under the $56,000 statutory exemption, (2) how many additional accounts would receive a benefit if the county continued a $20,000 exemption, and (3) the anticipated revenue impact to the county budget if the board continued the $20,000 exemption considering the recent drop in the commercial assessment rate. No board vote occurred; staff will report back when the assessor's figures are available.